Earlier this week, Mac Rumors reported that Apple had laid off several new hires around the world (mainly the United Kingdom) and cut the hours of part-timers significantly in the retail sector. Some of the new employees had just finished their training programs and had been with the company as little as six months.

Apple recently responded to these claims, saying that the company hasn't laid off anyone. It did, however, implement a new hiring formula for its retail stores over the past few months and said that it "messed up" in doing so. The company is now trying to reverse this formula, which has resulted in large cuts in retail hours.

"Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed," said Kristin Huguet, Apple spokeswoman. "Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve."

John Browett, senior vice president of Apple Retail, was indeed behind the idea (as previously suspected). Browett is the new guy on the team, having come from UK-based Dixons Retail electronics stores in April 2012.

Browett was praised for conducting an internal review when first joining Apple, which led to raises as high as 25 percent for retail employees as well as certain hardware discounts.

He tried to put a new staffing formula in place, but obviously that didn't work out too well. Browett is now telling leadership teams to tell employees that "we messed up."

MacRumors still insists that the company laid off employees, since it has heard from actual retail workers themselves. But this looks to be a foggy area in the whole fiasco.

Updated at 4:43pm ESTifoAppleStore.com has detailed account of the waves Browett has been making in Apple's Retail stores since his arrival. It appears that Browett has been trying a bit too hard to change many aspects of Apple's Retail Stores that have made them so successful in an effort to save a few bucks here and there.

quote: Meh, not really. App developers are making way more on iOS, thus the higher number of quality apps on the platform.

That's completely transparent and immaterial to the end user. How much someone is making on apps...lol, I could care less.

Can you name me some amazing thing you can do with your iPhone that I can't with Android? Sorry but I just want to know. I'm open to the possibility that I could be wrong here. So hit me, tell me what killer apps I can't use that would make or break the Android experience.

If it's ANY platform you should be using this argument on, it's Windows Phone. That's an app wasteland.

quote: Sorry dude, customizing my home screen

Please stop pretending that this is the only advantage Android has over iOS. It seems like you're just trying to convince yourself of these things, because I know better. So who are you selling this to?

Pretend Jelly Bean doesn't take a midgrade phone like the Nexus, and completely blows away the 4S.

I still use it occasionally when Note is too big or my kid grabbed it or battery is discharged. The killer apps are lacking because WP7 had too many limitations due to old kernel. These limitations pushed me to Android but looking at how WP8 finally got modern kernel and got rid of all those limitations I'd stop trolling Windows Phone if I were you. You risk looking dumber and dumber with time if you continue doing that.

quote: That's completely transparent and immaterial to the end user. How much someone is making on apps...lol, I could care less.

Of course it matters, it means that the best apps and best app support is going to be on the most profitable platform.

I can tell you apps that are better, things like better versions of simple things like the Yelp app, professional apps like the sun tracking/photometric/cinematography apps I use for work, or dozens and dozens of games that have scores of "when is the Android version coming out" in the comments", but you'll obviously say "it doesn't matter". I guess Angry Birds and Pandora constitutes an app library.

Either way, some are never coming over because they're never going to be worth it (even for AAA studios like Epic), others are up in the air (Baldur's Gate and Frozen Synapse), and some like this one I funded on Kickstarter (http://goo.gl/HQxcs) has Android as a stretch goal if they DOUBLE their initial funding goal. One of many many examples of how little Android makes sense to most developers.

The people I know who hate Android the most aren't people on forums like this one, it is mobile developers who have to do cross platform work. This has a direct effect on what customers have available. Android SHOULD have a vastly superior library given how many more Android handsets are out there, but at best it is playing catch up. Speaking of catch-up, hey, at least Microsoft finally got around to releasing more apps for Android, that's good.

Arguing with you is like talking to a Linux zealot who refuses to believe that there are more and better apps on Windows because they make more money on Windows.

I mean, even applications like Reeder and Alien Blue, both of which are awesome and really should be on more platforms, are iOS only. The best you can hope for right now are half baked knockoff clones, and the same thing extends with apps far and wide. The quality and quantity just aren't there right now.

1st off, reclaimer is right. You are arguing IOS vs Android based on your 2 year old impression of Android, not todays Android. Its come a long way in the past 2 years while IOS has stagnated.

"Either way, some are never coming over because they're never going to be worth it (even for AAA studios like Epic), others are up in the air (Baldur's Gate and Frozen Synapse), "

Really, with Android outselling iPhone by more than 4 to 1 now, you dont think eventually the drive will be there? Demand will drive all developers to go where the money is. Apple may be the present, by a small margin, but Android is the future. You are in deep denial. Here is another tidbit for you to deny. That 4 to 1 sales gap was primarily with Android 2.x devices. 2.x really wasnt up to par. Now 4.1 is not only up to par, its pretty much double birdied IOS. It's not just better, its miles better. How large do you think that sales gap will be in another 2 years? 8 to 1? 10 to 1?

Apple may have something up its sleeve for the iPhone 6 and OS7, but its certainly not there for the iPhone 5 and IOS6. IOS6 may as well be called IOS3.3 because it really hasnt changed much at all. Android 2.3 to 4.1 is a majorly huge jump.

Good luck with your apps though. You pretty much lost all other advantages and the apps one is really week, especially considering the sales gap moving forward.

quote: Really, with Android outselling iPhone by more than 4 to 1 now, you dont think eventually the drive will be there? Demand will drive all developers to go where the money is. Apple may be the present, by a small margin, but Android is the future.

A cross platform developer making on average 4x as much on iOS as they would on Android isn't a "small margin". The problem is compounded by hardware and OS fragmentation, the latter being a problem that isn't going away until Google takes control from the platform away from carriers.

Making less money on a platform that is harder to support. It is no wonder why iOS is the lead mobile development platform despite there being more Android devices. And if you are basing your argument on Android also having Angry Birds, Netflix, and Facebook, then you're missing the point, there is nothing approaching parity with the platforms.

quote: That 4 to 1 sales gap was primarily with Android 2.x devices. 2.x really wasnt up to par. Now 4.1 is not only up to par, its pretty much double birdied IOS.

Right, 4.0 which is only about 15% of Android devices after almost a year and 4.1 which is on less than one percent. Fantastic.

quote: Android 2.3 to 4.1 is a majorly huge jump.

Yeah, it brings UI smoothness up to where iOS was back in 2008. Congrats.

Anyway, why are you bringing OS features into a conversation about availability of apps?

iOS can "stagnate" for years if it wanted to, but the issues of marketplace/OS/hardware fragmentation, piracy, and a userbase that doesn't spend money on apps pretty much ensures that iOS would still be the lead platform for mobile developers.

The problem with your argument is that you automatically assume that a larger customer base equals more high quality apps. It should work out this way, but if the platform is fundamentally unprofitable and difficult to develop for, then it simply doesn't matter.

Your argument also assumes that the iOS userbase isn't growing fast enough, when it is still experiencing explosive growth. Again, it doesn't matter so long as much more money can be made off of iOS and the platform continues to be better to develop on.

Think about it, Android's issues for developers are so big that even with more devices out there for years, it is still second tier for development.

WP7/8 probably have the best development environment around on top of protecting developers through unified app markets and centralized support from MS, but it suffers due to not having enough users. You are trying to apply WP issues to iOS and it just doesn't work.

I think you are way over-inflating the issue. Android has over 500k apps and most major titles are available on both platforms. Those that aren't have a comparable products available. There are apps that do pretty much everything on both platforms. Neither lacks in that area. IOS app eco-system is better and if that is your #1 concern, its the best platform for you, but there are many aspects to look at, apps is just one small piece. There are many more importanat features to look at.

I've said many times that if tweaking or larger screens are a priority, then Android is for you. I agree that it is all about priorities. Apps happen to be mine, and unfortunately it is still an issue on Android. Unlike many anti-Apple fanboys here, I don't WANT the "other" ecosystem to fail, I am just pointing out major issues that exist.

The same issues as before still apply to mobile developers. I was surprised to see from a recent Kickstarter that a stretch goal for doubling their start goal is an Android port, about a half million. This, the experience of people I know in mobile development, as well as the practical reality of both markets, speaks much about how much Google needs to fix.

Access to the highest quality apps is the most important thing for me. Its the same reason I use Windows and OS X rather than something like Ubuntu. Would I rather use GIMP when I can use something better available elsewhere? Of course not, and the same reasoning goes for numerous iOS productivity apps I use for surveying, or things like Reeder or Alien Blue.

I believe that if Google took back control from carriers, took control of OS updates and versions, and unified (and curated) the marketplace as Apple and MS are doing now, that it would erase almost all of the developer issues they have right now.